Merry Christmas Fellow Royal Priests

To all my readers and all followers of Jesus of Nazareth, firstborn over all creation, head of the church, Son of God and son of man, king of kings, lord of lords, prince of peace, light of the world, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year.  

I love Christmas, just the central idea; a promise made eons ago comes to fruition, that God would send us a savior. The plot point of Christmas in the overall story of our salvation is not one to be overlooked. Our lord and savior came to us with incredibly humble beginnings - born to peasants in a stable. So humble that even today unbelievers mistakenly call Mary an "unwed mother" (when we look at Luke 2:5 properly translated we find that when Christ was born Joseph and Mary were married). But that's ok, not a lot of people are going to truly understand. Jesus was very plain about the fact that believers are different than unbelievers and are divinely inspired:

65 And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” 66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. (John 6:65-66)

So often when we consider our sinful nature we rightfully humble ourselves often to the point of tears. Yet we forget that not only is our faith a gift of God, we forget that we have been chosen, set apart by God to do His work, to spread the Gospel to all the nations. And that is a very special thing:

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

So royal priests, citizens of a holy nation - let's celebrate the anniversary of Christ's first advent the old fashioned way: by spreading the Gospel

Feel Free To Utter The C Word - It's a Big Deal

I'm going to Philadelphia tomorrow to spend a few days at the Comcast Military Development and Leadership Symposium, which is a big deal. But I will be in Philadelphia away from my family during the early part of the Christmas season, which is a big deal. 

I love my family, I love my savior, and I love the way He made His presence here on earth a reality. We as a people set apart a day to remember His birth, even though we don't know exactly what day He arrived. To many it's a big deal. There are many Americans who are not Christian, but still celebrate Christmas, to them too it's a big deal. But there are a minority who do not celebrate Christmas because it is a reminder of Christ's birth, who want Christmas erased, and to them deleting our savior is a very big deal. They want to, no - they need to remove Christ from our society, and a very small part of that plan is to replace "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" erasing Christ from the celebration of His birth. Just part of their satanically inspired takeover which is a really big deal.

WWUTT - Born in a Barn?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon's Thoughts on Christmas

Spurgeon on Christmas

December 8, 2015 by Ray Rhodes, Jr.

A few days before Christmas 1891, while recovering in Mentone, France, from poor health, Charles Spurgeon wrote a moving letter to the children of his orphanages. From the time Spurgeon moved to London in 1854, he was deeply concerned about the plight of the hundreds of orphans that lined the city’s streets. Between 1866 and 1876, he led his church to build two orphan’s homes.1

As long as Spurgeon’s health allowed him to remain in London during the cold winter months, he, along with Susannah, visited the orphans each Christmas Day. He led the children to remember generous benefactors who supplied funds for the orphanages, to be kind to their caretakers, and to give thanks to God for his provision. Affectionately, he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a coin for each child.2

As what would be Spurgeon’s last Christmas Day drew near, he wanted the orphans to know that he loved them. In his letter, Spurgeon wished them a “glorious,” “jolly,” and “merry” Christmas. When the children received his letter, they cheered. The children wrote back warmly telling him that they prayed for him every day “that God would make you well again, for what should we do without you?”3 Spurgeon’s care for his orphans each Christmas Day demonstrates his positive outlook on the holiday.

To assert that Spurgeon was a Scrooge, as some have suggested, is to misunderstand him. It is true that he opposed ecclesiastical enforcement of, and superstitious practices related to, Christmas.4 He also denounced excesses that were prevalent at Christmas, such as drunkenness and gluttony. However, he did not discourage Christians from celebrating the birth of Christ. Spurgeon valued Christmas Day and said, “I love it as a family institution.” He wished there were “20 Christmas Days.”5 He viewed Christmas as one of “England’s brightest days,” because laborers rested, families gathered, and joy was expressed.6

Keeping the Holy Family Humble

Merry Fourth Day of Christmas! I wanted to find an illustration of the humble family of Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus, but there appears to be no such thing. You can find lots of pictures of them in a stable emblazoned with halos and surrounded by the heavenly hosts. I can find a lot of pictures of Joseph leading a halo branded Mary on a donkey but there's nothing in the bible about a donkey, I just wanted a humble, poor holy family. 

So instead I went the other route. Here's a beautiful mosaic in the Hagia Sophia (pronounced Haya Sophia, it means "Holy Wisdom"), a visit to that 1,400 year old historical masterpiece is definitely on my bucket list. Here we see Mary holding the baby Jesus being visited by the Roman* emperor John II Komnenos and his wife Irene of Hungary. John is handing Jesus a sack of cash and Irene is handing Mary an official decree. Let's not let the fact that John was born 1,118 years after Jesus was born get in the way of a very beautiful mosaic. 

In fact other than the wise men and some shepherds showed up at Jesus' birth, this family was humble and they were humbled, and for some reason this realization hit me a bit harder this Christmas. We all knew that God gave his son humble beginnings but He did so in a way that insured his life would remain humble. Let's start at the very beginning...

WWUTT Wednesday - The Christian Santa Clause

Do I believe in Santa Claus? No, but I believe in the Coca Cola ad campaign that featured a right jolly old elf. Personally, to me the proper symbol of the secular version of Christmas is a live tree draped with real tinsel, bedecked with Noma lights, interesting ornaments with a simple Lionel train set orbiting the base. Unfortunately my wife has an allergy to what ever they spray on trees to keep them green, our pets tend to eat tinsel, Noma lights are few, far between, and now priced beyond my reach, and grandchildren and my Lionel set tend to be a bad combination. But we still have some great Christmas ornaments. Throw in some mistletoe and holly (lots of holly!) a mug of egg nog and a piece of fruit cake (I love fruit cake! If you get one for Christmas and feel an urge to re-gift, I'm your man) some Andy Williams on the Alexa and I'm ready for the secular holiday.

But the Christian celebration of remembrance that God kept his promise and became man and walked among us, knowing from birth that with every step he took that he was growing closer to insufferable agony because of my sin is celebrated a bit differently. Mostly with quiet prayer in my little room, tearful with gratitude and begging God that if He can forgive and  forget my sins, that He can help me forgive myself and forget them too. 

Santa Claus is not St. Nick, and we as Christians need to keep that in mind. We need to keep our secular and Christian celebrations separate, and if we can't I suppose we have to drop one or the other.

Peace On Earth? Good Will To...?

I love Luke 2:8-14, It's the story of the Angels appearing to the shepherds announcing the birth of Jesus. Could you even imagine a heavenly host of Angels appearing and singing with such joy? 

We've all heard about this one joyous chorus, in our bible reading, in church, in Christmas carols. and if nothing else most Americans heard it from that famous blanket dragging theologian Linus Van Pelt;

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:8-14 KJV)

And many people rightly ask "So where's this peace? Where's this good will?" Let's face it, Earth is not a peaceful place, since the fall of man it has never been peaceful, and it never will be peaceful. One hundred years ago the United States joined the greatest battlefield slaughter of mankind ever inflicted on the earth to that time (WWI), which only precipitated even greater slaughter 21 years later. The slaughter continues in the middle east and radiating out across the globe. In the future we know that even after Jesus returns to set all things right  there will be an uprising during the millennial reign. So where is this "Peace on earth, good will to all men?

Spurgeon Thursday - Unto Us A Son Is Given

If unto me a child is born then I have been born again; and, moreover, I am now in consequence of that new birth, a child. If, again, a Son has been given to me, then I am a son; and again I am given to that Son who is given to me. 

I have tried to put these tests in the way that the text would suggest them. I pray you carry them home with you. If you do not recollect the words, yet do recollect to search yourselves, and see, my hearers, whether you can say, "Unto me this Son is given." For, indeed, if Christ is not my Christ, he is of little worth to me. If I cannot say he loved me and gave himself for me, of what avail is all the merit of his righteousness, or all the plenitude of his atonement? 

Bread in the shop is well enough, but if I am hungry and cannot get it, I starve although granaries be full. Water in the river is well enough but if I am in a desert and cannot reach the stream, if I can hear it in the distance and am yet lying down to die of thirst, the murmuring of the rill, or the flowing of the river, helps to tantalize me, while I die in dark despair. 

Better for you, my hearers to have perished as Hottentots, to have gone down to your graves as dwellers in some benighted land, than to live where the name of Christ is continually hymned and where his glory is extolled, and yet to go down to your tombs without an interest in him, unblessed by his gospel, unwashed in his blood, unclothed of his robe of righteousness. God help you, that you may be blessed in him, and may sing sweetly "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given."... 

On the Second Day of Christmas...

... my true love gave to me

Two Turtle Doves

The Old and New Testaments, which together bear witness to God's self-revelation in history and the creation of a people to tell the Story of God to the world.

And That Is What Christmas Is All About

⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

On the First Day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me...

A Partridge in a Pear Tree
The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, whose birthday we celebrate on December 25, the first day of Christmas. In the song, Christ is symbolically presented as a mother partridge that feigns injury to decoy predators from her helpless nestlings, recalling the expression of Christ's sadness over the fate of Jerusalem:

"Jerusalem! Jerusalem! How often would I have sheltered you under my wings, as a hen does her chicks, but you would not have it so . . . ." (Luke 13:34)

Another Christmas Song Born in the Sorrow of War

Yesterday I wrote about "I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day" and how sprouted from the pain and sorrow of the American Civil War. I recently found that another Christmas song has its origins in the horrors of war. 

White Christmas stands apart from most all other Christmas songs in several ways: it's not upbeat and joyful, in fact it's melancholy and sad. There's no fanciful characters like Santa Claus or elves or reindeer, and it's not religious in any way.

White Christmas was first heard on the radio on Christmas Day, 1941 sung by Bing Crosby, on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall. Everyone loves the idea of a White Christmas, but an actual white Christmas is a rare thing even in my hometown of Buffalo NY (Really! It's normally cold and rainy in the first few weeks of winter up there). But the concept of a Christmas morning covered with new fallen snow is a warm and comforting thought - like a Thomas Kinkade painting it's an idealized vision that brings smiles even to snowbirds in Miami.

Eighteen days before that broadcast aired the United States was attacked and suddenly found itself involved in a world conflict on multiple fronts. our future was in turmoil and an idealized reminiscence of Christmas was in order. When Bing Crosby toured overseas to perform for the troops, White Christmas was always the most requested song, but Crosby didn't want to sing it for them. Crosby said in an interview:

I hesitated about doing it because invariably it caused such a nostalgic yearning among the men, that it made them sad... Heaven knows, I didn’t come that far to make them sad. For this reason, several times I tried to cut it out of the show, but these guys just hollered for it.

After 74 years White Christmas is still the best selling Christmas song of all time, which is interesting because the author, Irving Berlin, didn't celebrate Christmas. He was a Jewish immigrant from Russia. Christmas was a very sad and solemn day for him.  While many American families opened gifts around the Christmas tree, Berlin had his own a tradition. Every year he visited the grave of his son who died on Christmas Day, 1928, at only three weeks old.

For Irving Berlin - who also wrote Alexander’s Ragtime Band and God Bless America - White Christmas was an unexpected hit. It was a simple song: just 54 words and 67 notes. It was written for a musical revue about the holidays that eventually became the movie “Holiday Inn.” Berlin thought a different song from that film would become popular. He had expected 'Be Careful It’s My Heart' written for Valentine’s Day  to become the most popular, and for a while it was but in 1942 Bing Crosby released White Christmas as a record and Be Careful It's My Heart was nearly forgotten. But “White Christmas” was the song that won Berlin an Academy Award.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

I heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play...

I love that sweet old carol, we sang it in church on this past Sunday, and we sang it from the blue hymnal (the one that says KJV on the spine, not sure why though, most of those hymns come long after King James). We sang all 5 verses, something I've never heard before, usually only 3 or 4 are sang. this time I hit

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
    "For hate is strong,
    And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Hate is strong and mocks the song... wait, what? I had never heard that before. Then the last verse got my attention:

    The Wrong shall fail,
    The Right prevail, 

That sounded hauntingly familiar... it reminded me of a Civil war type of statement. Once home I started to look through the different versions I've heard before and many ignore these verses. I found it in some contemporary versions even though I completely ignore the Casting Crowns version (I don't like their arrangements, they sound to me like a Hootie and the Blowfish rip-off)

I did the Berean thing and started to research, and I was fairly surprised to learn that the words were written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and that there's a total of seven verses. Several sources claim that he wrote his poem "Christmas Bells" in memory of his wife who died previously, but that's only part of the story. His wife had died two years previously of a tragic fire. Longfellow was devastated but it would only get worse for the greatest American poet. 

Christmas is Even More Awesome When We Understand The Text

WWUTT.com - or When We Understand The Text is a wonderful online video ministry that desires to promote sound Bible teaching while also exposing many of the myths and false ideas that have arisen. WWUTT brings often overlooked bits and pieces of biblical truth to light, clarifying difficult concepts in 90 seconds. 

After observing a lot of bad teaching videos and misquoted Bible verses on Facebook and Twitter, Pastor Gabriel Hughes of the First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City was encouraged by others from his church who were equally frustrated to introduce something new. Through trial and error, playing with a few different ideas, eventually When We Understand the Text was born.

Their 90+ videos all available on their Youtube Channel run the gamut from IHOP, Modern Worship, and cults to the Holy Trinity, Bacon, and Salvation, each done with a myriad of biblical references and love. A 90 second video can take me up to 30 minutes to view as I love to look up the verses they cite and I'm kinda slow at that sometimes as those verses lead me off to other verses.

Here's their current collection of Christmas related videos that explain some very interesting facts, clarify biblical passages, and really make the wonder of God's gift to all mankind even more wonderful. 

Merry Christmas Beloved of Christ

For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given:

and the government shall be upon his shoulder:

and his name shall be called

Wonderful,

Counselor,

The mighty God,

The everlasting Father,

The Prince of Peace.

Have a Blessed Christmas!

Merry and Joyous Christmas wishes, I pray that each of you draw closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the year to come. Here's an awesome video from Stand To Reason blog that explains exactly why Christmas is so unique of all holidays

REJOICE!

I have acquaintances who tell me "We don't celebrate <insert holiday here>" generally for "religious" reasons. But Christmas? How can someone not celebrate Christmas? Then again I know religions that celebrate nothing. That's the thing about Christianity - God gave us the independence to determine how we should worship Him. 

5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks (Romans 14:5-6)

According to Paul's words here a Christian can rightly celebrate any day he or she wishes as a day for the Lord. I've been told "We don't celebrate birthdays" and my unspoken response was "Seriously? You don't set aside a day to give your Lord thanks and praise for the birth of your child?" They chose to not celebrate birthdays, that's their right, but they do not have the right to tell me I'm sinful for celebrating. The problem is that Graham Hancock is right; mankind is a species with amnesia. We forget stuff, and one way to remember stuff is a celebration. 

The Real Reason For The Season

I love the Christmas season, I love the trees, and the lights and the music, the gifts and the gatherings, and if there's snow I'm in heaven. (The best thing about living in Colorado is regardless of the weather, a White Christmas is only an hours drive away) Being human beings squabbles will arise as we overschedule, overtax, and overspend ourselves, and I even like those too because it's family. 

In all the hustle and bustle that happens around this time we all to easily forget what the reason for the season truly is. As John MacArthur points out in his sermon "The Ugliness of Christmas" the reason for the season isn't actually Jesus, Jesus came because of sin, making sin the actual reason for the season. 

The True Meaning of Christmas

When Mary birthed Jesus 'twas in a cow's stall
With wise men and farmers and shepherds and all
But high from God's heaven, a star's light did fall
And the promise of ages it then did recall.

for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11)

This is why we celebrate Christmas, to celebrate Christ's birth, but that's not the true meaning of Christmas. Babies are born all the time, in hospitals, in homes, in barns and in mangers. The true meaning of Christmas is why one very important baby was born in a little middle east backwater village on a lonely night, the date unrecorded in the depths of time so we had to settle on a day to remember why God took off his mantle of Holy righteousness and power and was born to a virgin in a rude manger. 

But the true meaning of Christmas is why God came to earth in the first place. He didn't come to heal the sick and walk on water and change water into wine, but he did that and more. The true meaning of Christmas can be found in the story of the lost birds.

The "Japanization" Of Christmas in America

Christians make up approximately 0.005% of Japans population (about 750,000 Christians in a country of 126 million), so I full well understand that the Japanese will have their own interesting twist on the Christian holiday of Christmas, or Kurisumasu. This is essentially a new holiday in Japan, picked up via radio and TV in the early '60's, and without a body of Christianity in Japan this holiday has gone off into its own direction.

Kurisumasu looks like Christmas in western countries at first glance, Santa Claus, reindeer, Christmas trees, buildings decorated with multicolored lights, the crowds shopping for gifts for their loved ones... but it's just a superficial resemblance. Kurisumasu is not a national holiday in Japan so schools and businesses remain open on December 25th, and the reason for the season is more cake and chicken rather than Christ and salvation.